


Ash Fall

by baccuroth (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 14:12:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3939802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/baccuroth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a young priest realizes his faith isn't as concrete as he thinks and the beings living below are not what he's been told.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ash Fall

**Author's Note:**

> a different take on [this universe](http://archiveofourown.org/series/159740). the title comes from [ash fall](http://thebunkerpodcast.bandcamp.com/track/ash-fall) from the bunker podcast soundtrack. much love and thanks to nanna for not only looking over this but helping me build the story and its world.

The path led out from the back of the men’s southern dormitory, winding through a short ceiling of ash trees. In summer, they filtered soft, green-gold light onto the acolytes’ simple black cassocks. In winter, their bare branches brushed the tops of the girls’ heads with the threat to muss their taut braids.

Levi rarely paid attention to the silent ash, too intent on reaching the gazebo at the path’s end.

It was of an old construction, already moldering by the time Levi had been set on the convent steps by cold, bare arms. The octagonal structure peered out over the edge of the cliff into a forest torn into jagged strips by rocks pushed up over the centuries by, it was said, angry demons who cursed the Father for their deserved imprisonment. Two sets of stairs led further down but few went there. The main pavilion was large enough to fit the convent’s two dozen acolytes, their candles and voices stretching far over the rocks and evergreens a thousand feet below.

The air burned his nose and Levi held a sleeve over his face. Snowflakes melted on his eyelashes and he walked to the very edge of the main gazebo. The first set of steps was too icy to tread; his journey had been for naught. Lowering his arm, Levi licked the flakes that quickly gathered on his lips.

Snow had already covered the trees in the valley but the dark monoliths stared at him, stone giants waiting for their revenge.

The night before, Petra had received word from the Mother, making her the last of the north convent’s acolytes to receive such a message. Levi waited night and day for something, but it never came.

“You do not have enough faith, Levi,” the Overseer always said.

Levi looked away from the stones, sucking his cold bottom lip into the warmth of his mouth.

He was devout as the rest of them.

His hand closed around his lariat, a long strand of dark beads he worried between his fingers every morning, noon, and night.

“Father, the creator, who is above us, always watching, always knowing, grant me…”

The snow picked up; Levi left.

* * *

“How is it outside? It looks fiercely cold.”

Petra was a sweet, curious girl. She had devoted herself to the Mother at the age of twelve and in her ten years at the convent, she had done a great deal of good, even accompanying Levi into the underground on a handful of occasions.

“They don’t seem to like us being here,” she’d said, looking back into the candlelit darkness.

“We must try regardless.”

Now, Levi wasn’t sure he even believed his own words.

“The valley is a blanket of white.” Levi shook his cassock, grimacing as it spattered droplets across the mudroom. “It began snowing harder when I left.”

Petra hummed, offering to bring Levi a clean towel to wipe up the mess.

“Thank you.”

As he waited, Levi took note of who was in the main hall. He could hear male and female voices but not that of the Overseer.

His sigh was one of relief. Visits to the gazebo, except for official reasons, were frowned upon.

No one knew the solace he required and the gazebo, perched over the edge of the only world he knew, offered such solitude.

The repetitive motion of wiping up the water washed his thoughts clean and he was making the awkward motion of standing in his cassock as a shadow fell over him.

“Brother Levi, I hope your walk was refreshing.”

The Overseer blocked the doorway, broad shoulders on a sturdy frame. A dark fringe of hair obscured his eyes but Levi knew them to be a strange, bright brown. Not quite hazel, he had decided over the years.

“It was. Am I needed?”

He puckered his lips in exaggerated thought. “Not at present. Dinner is in an hour, of course. Perhaps you should see to your toilet,” his eyes dropped to Levi’s sodden knees, “before then.”

Levi hadn’t noticed the water that had soaked into his cassock. He was especially grateful to have done laundry the day before. A fresh robe was laid out in his cell.

The Overseer was gone by the time Levi finished this thought but his presence always lingered like some bad, burnt smell in the air.

* * *

Each cell contained a small chest of drawers, a straw-stuffed mat, and a handsewn quilt. Levi unfolded his quilt and removed the clean robe. Pulling his cassock over his head and grimacing as the soaked fabric touched his bare stomach, he redressed quickly. His lariat tapped against his chest like a metronome and he stilled its sway with an absent hand.

In his many years, Levi’s hand had never wandered beneath the simple cloth of his underclothes. To touch, it was said, was to err and to err was to fall.

Levi had nightmares of falling, tumbling over the edge of the gazebo and into the abyss of broken stone and evergreens. There was nothing there to catch him but the ground.

* * *

Each acolyte touched two fingertips to forehead then chin before sitting in their assigned chairs.

Meals were regular and bland. Pleasure was to be found in service of the Parents and not through the pallet. Three courses of bread and butter, a thin soup, and a meat course on special days. Every other day, it was a thicker soup.

Levi ate without looking up, forgoing the allowed whispers to concentrate on his thoughts.

The snow had ruined his walk, damned stuff.

“My brothers and sisters.” Every back straightened as the Overseer stood. “As you know, Sister Petra received a message from the Mother not long ago. Sister Petra, please stand.” He held a hand out, fingers spreading as Petra pushed back her chair. “What can you tell us?”

Petra practically beamed, her gaze alighting on nearly every acolyte but lingering on Levi, who took no notice, the longest. “The Mother feels we must press forward and shine the light of the Faith into the darkness of the underground.” She folded her hands across her stomach, as if her excitement were about to burst forth into a physical entity. “She said Brother Levi will bear this much-needed flame.”

* * *

“You think the Mother would have chosen someone she’s actually spoken to.”

The cell walls were thin. Levi heard every word flittering between the dozen honeycombed rooms.

“Maybe She has and Brother Levi is-”

“Oh, come off it! Remember what a gift it was when you received His or Her word? Why would anyone keep such treasure to themselves?”

He rolled over on his mat, searching from a comfortable position that also blocked out the incessant buzzing of his fellow acolytes.

The lemon glow of a candle cut off any further conversation and Levi lay still as death when the Overseer looked into his room, hand cupped around the flame throwing the light onto his face.

When he had gone, Levi lifted his head from the crook of his elbow and stared at the wooden sliver hung on the wall above his dresser. It was a tall, slender v-shape, nearly a foot tall, that symbolized the Faith in its simplest form

‘The fullness of the Above leading to the banal finality of life on the Surface below,’ his mind recited dully.

Levi rolled onto his back. He didn’t want to return to the underground with its leaking sewage and thieving children. It was the barrier between the Surface and the Below. His fingers touched his naked belly, inciting a thrilling shiver. The demons lived Below and Levi could only imagine how foul their prison was.

His fingers longed to pluck at his lariat but it was coiled on the scarred top of his dresser. He folded his hands over his breast and searched for the sweetness of sleep.

* * *

The next day was filled with anxiety. Every eye in the convent was focused on Levi, every mouth expressing concern as to whether he would heed what the Mother had said to Petra.

Levi felt no calm when pressing fingertips to forehead and chin.

“It is about time, Sister Petra.”

“Yes, Overseer. Apart from Brother Levi-”

“You were the only one to whom Father or Mother had not spoken.”

Levi had meant to walk past the main hall. He had no business there and was eager to find rest in his cell. There was much to think about concerning the underground.

The carved screen obscured much of what was going on but Levi could make out large hands settling on Petra’s small shoulders.

“I am amazed you were not spoken to first.” A hand rose to brush aside the fringe of pale strawberry hair across Petra’s forehead. “A spirit as bright as yours is a great weapon against the darkness of the world.”

Levi’s fingers found his lariat, tugging on the hard beads until they bit into his palm.

“Overseer.”

“Shh.”

Levi knew the construct of the Sister’s robes, not quite as impenetrable as those of the Brothers, and he watched with sick, frozen fascination as a hand dipped inside the dark fabric. He wanted her to struggle but Petra was too good for that, Levi too weak to intervene for her.

“Sweet Sister,” the Overseer whispered before leaving the hall, unaware of Levi crouched in the shadows only a few feet away.

* * *

The men and women of the convent were kept in separate dormitories but they intermingled in the common areas: main hall, dining hall, and scriptoria.

Levi had never been trained in writing but Petra had a hand as light as her presence so she spent many long hours transcribing the word of the Father and the Mother as told to the acolytes during their proselytizing.

When Levi’s duties were finished, he often stepped inside one of the large rooms set aside for writing. His fingers brushed the gilt edges of bound books and studied the intricate drawings that accompanied the dreams and stories of the land’s many believers.

“Good morning, Brother Levi!”

He looked up at the bright greeting. The outside of Petra’s right hand was bruised with smeared ink.

“Good morning, Sister Petra. I have given some thought to your words at the evening meal the other night.”

“Yes?”

Levi could never suppress the hint of a smile at Petra’s eagerness. He thought of the matter in the main hall, that candle-shielding hand trespassing the confines of Petra’s robe. “I would be glad to accompany you to the underground.”

Petra bowed her head, placing the fingers of her right hand into the cupped palm of her left. “Thank you, Brother Levi. I will let the Overseer know.”

“I will, if that is alright. I have another matter to discuss with him. Two disbelievers with one sermon, as the Father says.”

The relief on her face was palpable only to Levi.

“Thank you.”

He left Petra to her work, desperate for solitude in the gazebo. It was still snowing, fat flakes tumbling to their unmarked deaths.

* * *

It wasn’t rare for the children of the convent to hold hands in the underground, a talisman against the foreignness of the place. Levi did find it absurd to think of himself as a child; he had left that world behind nearly twenty years earlier.

The snow had melted enough to allow them passage into the underground, where everything reeked of mildew and sour food. Levi felt Petra’s hand tremble in his own and he paused on the last steps to cup both of hers between his own in an attempt to warm them.

“That isn’t necessary, Brother Levi. I am simply eager to spread the glory of the Faith.”

Petra pulled him along, lifting the hem of her robe with her free hand. Melted snow had tunneled down into the long cavern the underground resided in and every foot path was mired in mud. Each footfall squelched and slipped. Levi found himself counting the minutes until they could return to the Surface.

They visited three homes, including one filled with orphan children. Petra played with the children as Levi spoke. It was for naught; the ragged woman had no interest in Father or Mother seeing as they made no provisions for the children in her care.

Levi couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t fault anyone for not having faith. Even he considered walking away from the convent, but he knew no other life and the one he had wasn’t as bad as those he saw here.

“Perhaps she will see the good grace of our Parents at another time.”

“You are far too optimistic for your own good, Sister Petra.”

“Do you truly believe that?”

She had stopped walking, mud spattering the hem of her robe.

Levi walked back to her, unlooping the lariat from around his neck and holding it toward her in the palm of his hand.

“Do you know how many times I had followed each bead with a prayer? Three times every day since I was a boy and yet,” Levi looked around them, “this place still exists, children go hungry, and…”

‘I am dissatisfied with this life,’ he added silently.

“Do not be so blind that you do not see the stones in the path we tread.”

Levi absently pocketed the beads and turned back toward the pinprick of sun in the distance. There was still some distance to go before they be above ground once more.

* * *

How long had it been since the sun touched his face? Two decades? Three, four, five?

It was snowing on the Surface; he could smell the icy flakes. His nose twitched at the thought of them falling upon his face.

The cracks leading up to the underground weren’t built for such bulk and he shrugged his way through the rough-hewn rock until the smell of humans teased its way into his nostrils.

A ragged cloak slapped the corner of a building as a figure disappeared around it and the demon’s eyes narrowed, relaxing when he understood he was now alone in the alley.

The air here was a stew of smells, the rare sweetness of buns quickly turning to chamber pots emptied onto the unpaved roads.

Even the foulness was worth it to get close to where sun dwellers lived.

He could see the light in the distance, a speck as small as a star would be to those on the Surface.

As a boy, he had climbed the cliffs of the Surface with relish, sinking his new claws into stone. Blood had rushed hot and fast through him when the rock crumbled beneath his grip and he was left with one hand grounding him, keeping him from falling to the valley below.

It had been worth the scolding from his father. Feeling the sun was worth almost anything.

“Whoa!”

“Shh!” he bit back, opening his hand as fingers scrabbled against it.

The demon known as Erwin looked down on the blond mop of hair of one his charges and again told him to be quiet.

“MIkasa and Eren are going to be jealous,” the child hissed.

“They don’t need to know yet, Armin.”

Demon and demon child passed out of the alley, cautious of their surroundings.

“Have you ever been to the Surface, sir?”

Armin was a curious, loquacious child. On any other day, Erwin would have been glad to have him along. Today, however, something rankled him. He had promised the boy since Mikasa and Eren were busy with other things and so they were in the underground with its rotten-sweet smells and its motley characters. Erwin pushed his annoyance aside and gripped Armin’s hand reassuringly.

“When I was your age, which was a very long time ago.”

Armin’s tail slapped against the back of Erwin’s furred calves but he paid it no mind. Tails were always the hardest thing to get used to.

“What did you do up there?”

“I climbed the cliffs, felt the wind through my hair. It’s a shame you haven’t experienced it.”

Armin closed his eyes and chewed on his lips, as if attempting to feel what Erwin did when he was young.

“Come on.” Erwin tugged on his hand, moving across a path bisected by a stream of dirty water. He thought he saw something shimmer there and knelt to retrieve. His hand shot up, claws retracting.

“What? What?” Armin looked about wildly.

“A lariat,” Erwin whispered, using the tips of his claws to pick up the offending object.

Armin’s shrewd eyes studied it from every angle. “An item belonging to the Faith?”

Erwin nodded sternly. How had it found its way so far down? He pulled it back when Armin, ever curious, reached for the glossy beads.

“Our flesh finds such things… disagreeable.” Regardless, he stowed it in the pouch at Armin’s hip. “Don’t let me forget about this.” Armin nodded once, firm and final. “I think we’ve had enough adventure today.”

Erwin pretended not to see Armin’s disappointment.

* * *

Each lift of the axe was coupled with a silent curse. Any indiscretion not necessitating expulsion was given the punishment of procuring wood for the convent’s many fireplaces and braziers. In the warmer months, that meant gathering the fallen branches from the surrounding forest. In winter, that meant chopping trunks into neat quarters that were then stacked in the woodshed.

Levi couldn’t figure out where his lariat had gone. In the ensuing week, he’d retraced his steps. It had to have been when he placed it back into his pocket, so intent on returning from the underground that he missed it entirely. In another round of home visits, Levi had checked the main road but it had been clear of anything besides broken pottery and mud.

He had forgotten how painful numbness could be. It had been nearly ten years since he’d last had to do this, toeing the line with annoying precision ever since after he had collapsed while chopping wood in a snowstorm. He sniffed again, loath to wipe his dripping nose on the sleeve of his cassock. It was becoming harder to hold the axe and Levi still had an hour to go. He wanted to be inside, within sight of Petra so he could keep an eye on the Overseer as well.

At least he could enjoy the burn in his muscles as the axe cleaved the wood in half. A year earlier, he wouldn’t have been imagining it was the Overseer’s skull.

* * *

He had always been an early riser. Since he was a child, Erwin had risen before the glowstones fully illuminated the cavern. With tea in hand, the cup pitifully small between his fingers, he set about some repairs that had needed doing for some months.

Friends would often drift in and out of his home on his days off but Erwin was glad when no one did this time. He was left to his thoughts, humming an improvised tune, when a soft knock at the front door pulled him away.

"Good morning, sir. I was emptying my hip pouch and this fell out."

Erwin had always appreciated Armin's ability to cut to the heart of a matter. He plucked the bag from Armin's flat palm and looked inside.

He had forgotten about the lariat completely.

"Have you touched it?"

Armin shook his head. "I tend not to touch things that might burn me, sir."

"Smart lad." Erwin returned the pouch, waiting for Armin to return it to his hip before sending him on his way.

Erwin’s project was abandoned as he carefully fingered the lariat. Some of the beads were particularly well-worn. Someone must be frantic to find it. He set it in the center of his table, sucking on a burnt finger as he studied it.

It wasn't rare for convent acolytes to visit the underground in an attempt to drum up converts or donations, despite what must have been a meager taking all around. Erwin had never seen evidence of them and scratched an elongated nail along his jawline as he contemplated the lariat's provenance

He bent low and sniffed. Beneath the reek of muddy water was soft, dry skin. Lariats were kept from the time a person converted and was even buried with them. He smelled it again - the scent of fire teasing along one nostril - and decided it belonged to a young man. From what he understood, the sister acolytes were never in charge of such matters, more attuned to singing and writing.

What happened in the world above was of little consequence to the demon known as Erwin. He had lived Below his entire life and while he longed for the warmth of the sun on his face and a chill wind breathing through his hair, he was content with his lot. The glowstones gave off a lovely light and the milknut trees were always generous with their fruit.

He left the lariat on the table and returned to his handiwork. Maybe he could leave it in the underground for someone else to find.

* * *

"Who do you think it belongs to?"

Michael moved around the table slowly, leaning forward or back as though a variety of perspectives would reveal the lariat's owner.

Erwin looked up, annoyed, before returning to his work. A pocket watch lay open on the table. He tweaked its innards with a screwdriver that looked delicate as a needle in his hand.

"Well?"

"Does it really matter?"

Michael's wings ruffled but he settled on saying, "I suppose not."

Pressing the back of the watch shut, Erwin held it out to Michael by its gold chain.

"Thanks. How'd you get so good at fixing things?"

"My father." Erwin's gaze focused on something in the distance.

"It's certainly appreciated around here and it gives your kids something to do."

Erwin pushed himself up with palms flat on the table. "They aren't my own but I need someone to gather supplies on the Surface."

Michael slapped Erwin on the shoulder. "Thanks again." He looked over his shoulder when he reached the door. "Let me know if you ever go up to look for that lariat's owner. I haven't been to the underground in ages."

* * *

Erwin’s opponent was smaller than him, but it only made it easier to move. When he lashed out with elongated nails, the other demon stepped back with a sword fighter’s grace and went straight for Erwin’s side.

The punch was solid and it took Erwin a long moment to shift his weight in order to counterattack.

Each punch or kick was streaked with black fur, bare bone, and whipping tail. Erwin managed to catch a foot and flip his opponent onto his back. The rush of breath made him smile but his amusement was interrupted when that same foot with his spur of bone at the heel sank into the meat of his calf.

Erwin sank down to one knee, feeling blood well to the surface and mat his fur.

When the next blow was about to fall, Erwin grabbed a handful of fur with one hand and used the other to get a firm grip around the upper bicep. With a huff, he flipped him onto his back, stirring up dust. Those gathered around the circle drawn in the dirt stepped back with a shuffle.

Rising onto his feet, Erwin drew in a deep breath as the other demon rolled onto his stomach. He felt weak, already overtaxed despite the fight not even being half over. Punches rained down on his back and Erwin reached back with a powerful arm and slammed his opponent down again, grimacing when he didn’t stay down for long. It took a well-placed kick to make Erwin gasp and lose the will to pull the arm from around his neck.

His heart wasn’t in it and Erwin admitted defeat with a sigh. The black-haired demon preened for a moment as the gathered crowd cheered before facing Erwin.

“You’ve gone soft, Erwin.”

Erwin snarled and took the hand offered to him. “You’ve just been practicing, Nile.” He huffed as he was pulled to his feet.

“How are things?”

Erwin shrugged, rolling his shoulders. “As they always are.”

Nile hummed, hunching one shoulder as a winged child flew past. While he was never one to press the joys of fatherhood and marriage onto others, Nile always felt his friend would benefit from finding a mate.

“Papa!” a trio of voices chirped and Erwin watched three children grab a part of their father to hug. He stroked each of their heads in turn.

“Erwin,” a smoky voice touched Erwin’s ears as the crowd dispersed. Demon fights were common enough exercise and often drew dozens of those taking a long lunch or coming home from the fields. “Thank you for letting my husband win.” Marie pressed a kiss to her husband’s cheek with dusky lips.

“I didn’t let him win. He… I…” Erwin closed his mouth along with his eyes and shook his head.  
“Are you alright?” Marie took a clawed hand on his arm.

At one time, Erwin thought he might have ended up with Marie. She was beautiful and intelligent and capable of making someone in the worst mood last. She was meant for Nile and Erwin had always been alone.  
“Yes. I am fine.”

Marie’s lips set into a straight line but she didn’t press Erwin for an honest answer.

“Sorry about the calf,” Nile said as one of his sons touched Erwin’s leg. It had stopped bleeding but the wound looked painful regardless.

“Oh.” Erwin looked down, moving his leg at an odd angle, toenails scraping at the dirt. “It’s no matter.”

Nile and Marie shared a look.

“Our home is always open to you, Erwin. I promise to cook the next time you come over. We’re still recovering from the last time.”

“Hey!” Nile groused but it was with the touch of a smile.  
“Papa, can we go home and pick some milknuts? They should be ready, shouldn’t they?”

“Alright.” Nile took his daughter’s hand and looked up to his friend. “Thanks for the fight, Erwin.”

“Don’t be a stranger,” Marie purred, taking the hands of her sons and turning toward home.”

Erwin waved back at Nile’s daughter and couldn’t help but smile when the little girl buried her face against her father’s neck. He waited until they made it out of sight, not wanting them to see his slight limp.

* * *

He bathed the wound in hot water and oil, hissing as he palpated the area. Erwin knew Nile hadn’t meant to bite so deep. Perhaps his mood wasn’t helping with regards to his physical state.

Throwing down a wet rag, Erwin’s hand brushed the lariat. He pulled back with a hiss and sagged in his seat.

He felt like a child, the unusual restlessness of the last few days making his skin crawl beneath its spikes and fur.

His nails tapped out a beat on the table’s surface as Erwin once again studied the lost lariat. He prodded it with an elongated nail, turning each bead in the low light of the main room. The smell of the Surface hands that had prayed with it had dissipated but Erwin still felt the need to return it. In a few days, he would be sending some of his charges to the Surface. Perhaps someone in the underground would return the lariat if they found it abandoned on a crate or a street corner.

Erwin let it burn him again, not pulling back when his skin blistered. For whatever reason, he wanted to remember having it.

* * *

The path was rocky, a contrast to the serene leaves overhead the color of summer clouds.

Levi had never seen this place, not even in his most vivid dreams. He followed the path into a barren valley. A circle of trees surrounded a jagged stone upon which say a tall, spare man.

The man's hands lay flat on his knees and his chest expanded with deep breaths. He seemed to inhale every ounce of oxygen, leaving Levi's head to spin.

"So you have come." The man opened his eyes and they seemed to smile. His hands rose and spread. "What do you think? I can think of no other place so blank." He inhaled again.

"It is a dream place." Levi's response belied a shrug but the old man refused indifference.

"It exists. You haven't seen enough of this great planet to understand." He turned colorless eyes to the sky. Levi did as well.

It wasn't a true sky. This place seemed deep beneath the actual sky but it glowed with a winter morning's brilliance.

"Why am I here?"

The man stood. His bare toes gripped the stone as easily as fingers would. "You seem in need of guidance." He stepped down with one foot, the other gentle against rock.

Levi felt an invisible wind cut him down to the bone. "I lost my lariat. For the first time in my life, my prayers seem inadequate."

The man hummed and lowered his other leg from the stone. Levi took a step back as the stone changed. A massive, shaggy head emerged, followed by hulking limbs and a tail that wound its way around the man’s feet. It gave Levi a disinterested look before lumbering away, the ground shaking in its wake.

“Ah.” The man watched the creature with a curious eye. “The demons don’t usually wake from the stone like that.” He turned his keen gaze back to Levi. “As for your lariat, it is not truly lost. Nothing ever is. You just need to retrace a few more steps.”

“I have looked everywhere.”

“You have not looked Below.”

“Because it is forbidden.”

“By whom?”

Levi swallowed at the thought of the Overseer. His entire life Levi had been told about its rank darkness. Was he in the Below now? Was that why this place looked so unfamiliar?

“Yes,” the man answered his thoughts, face to face with Levi now. “The question is: is your lariat worth such a trip?”

Levi nodded. He had felt lost since losing it. His fingers kept going to throat or pocket only to drop away disappointed. Looking up into the man’s face, Levi saw that it had changed. The colorness of his eyes had bled away into a vibrant blue unlike anything Levi could remember seeing.

"Good. There is someone you must meet there, my son."

Levi woke as the hand of a god came down upon his shoulder.

* * *

This fic is going to remain unfinished but here are any notes I have for the rest of it:

  * Basic plot: introduce Levi's world; lost lariat; introduce Erwin's world; meetings; gazebo singing; thinking about each other; underground, petruo; Levi visits Erwin; months later, Petra is choked; Levi Below; first time; gifts exchanged; meeting the kids; Levi's transformation; Levi explores Below, somewhat depressed; Levi sees Petra, goes back to Surface; Overseer dies; Petra goes to underground with Auruo; Levi goes Below with Erwin
  * Demons are elemental/nature-based and certain attributes belong to the different elements: scaly skin for earth, wings for wind, fur for water, and tails/horns for fire. They are also long-lived so having many children isn't necessary. They were humans who transformed/returned to the earth due to living Below for so long. Explains why Levi is able to take on demonic attributes.
  * Demons banished Below by the Parents who make them out to be evil, grotesque. Also  banished for their excess. The Faith is ascetic so the demonic love of fine things and sex are antithetical to their views.
  * Levi abandoned at the convent by his prostitute mother in the hope of a better life for him.
  * Levi's haircut: all are bare upon the Surface while the good are crowned with glory Above.
  * The Overseer wants to understand demons more fully so he lures demonized Levi back to the Surface. Erwin climbs the cliff barehanded and destroys Levi's beloved gazebo to get Levi back.
  * Erwin's face emerging from the darkness of the underground, sniffing the air. "Ah. An Acolyte."
  * When Erwin finally touches him, it's more a religious experience for Levi than all his years in the convent.
  * Meeting: Levi goes to the underground and runs into Auruo who asks about Petra. In return for the update, Auruo points him to the cracks in the walls that lead down to Below. Levi seeing Erwin for the first time: fear/awe/hot damn!
  * "Acolyte, let me spoil you."
  * Erwin is the opposite of "to err is to fall."
  * Erwin smelling him all over.
  * Levi instigates most of the sexual things between him and Erwin due to his curiosity and finally being able to make his own decisions.
  * Erwin is in charge of children who are thieves, stealing things from the Surface that cannot be manufactured Below.
  * Erwin is attracted to Levi because he is an outsider as well. His last excursion to the Surface as a boy got his father killed and Erwin's right horn was broken as punishment.
  * Levi explores Erwin's body; hard nipples, flat stomach. Levi wants to get a real sense of what Erwin is.
  * First kiss: Levi cuts his hand on Erwin's spiky nape; Erwin licks away the blood.
  * Levi and Petra preaching in the underground allows Levi to visit Erwin regularly. Petra meets Auruo there.
  * Erwin rubbing a fingertip over the head of Levi's cock. "What does your faith tell you of coupling, acolyte? Has anyone ever asked what you want?" Quick shake of Levi's head. Erwin gets close, tongues the tip of Levi's chin. "What do you want, Levi?" "More. I want to feel something." "Something good?" "Yes. Good, yes." Erwin licks his finger. "Sweet and pure. Let me unravel you from this ill-fitting robe. There is no use for such things in my bed or my domain." "Yes." Erwin licks along his jaw to his ear while a hand slips beneath Levi's cassock to hold one thigh apart from the other, licking from knee to hole with his rough tongue.
  * "Soon you will think nothing of this gorgeous skin or these horns carved from pearl. You will stand proud and beautiful, wicked tail snapping the air as you explore your new home."
  * Erwin licks the lumps where Levi's horns are coming in.
  * Erwin picking milknuts from a tree and cracking the shells between two fingers. shows how strong he is since he crushes the Overseer's throat at end of the fic.
  * Once Erwin really begins to take up Levi's thoughts, Levi is sent to attend the death of a prominent believer. He keeps one of the donated coins to buy Erwin a gift. He chastises Erwin for sending the kids out to steal. "You've never stolen anything?" Levi is ashamed and blushes. Levi gives Erwin a blue blanket since Erwin doesn't have one (or need one; he burns very hot) and Levi ends up using it all the time. Good representation of Levi entering Erwin's personal space (breaks up the red/gold decor and the sharp, hard lines well). Smells like Levi as well. Erwin often tangles the blanket around his head and horns when Levi is away.
  * When Levi sees the Overseer choke Petra (until she sags against him, almost in a swoon, like he always wanted) he's noticed and the Overseer gives chase. Levi's only option is to wind his way down the gazebos along the cliff face. The last one is all rotted wood and he falls into the valley below.
  * Mike is the oldest demonized Surface dweller and Erwin has him keep an eye on Levi so he catches Levi when he falls and sets him on the forest floor for Erwin and his little minions to find.
  * Sex scene: Levi paralyzed with pleasure. Mortified at being so exposed with his cassock pushed up around his waist but the stretch and burn of Erwin's cock is exquisite, his nipples tightening painfully, Erwin's kisses slow and sweet to counteract each powerful thrust of his hips that makes every muscle in Levi tense.
  * Levi's mouth hanging open in a gasp, brow furrowed, a flush creeping up his neck and speckling his cheeks. Erwin licking up that arched neck and biting down right as he comes.
  * Once he's calmed down, they're lying in the dark. "Are you going to stay here tonight?" "I don't think I have much choice anymore. But, yes. I want to be here with you. Stay with you, if you'll have me." Erwin's arm going around his waist, pulling him close. "I will."
  * Levi is sore as kicked balls the next morning but he loves it, snuggled beneath the blue blanket. tries to get up and NOPE. Erwin pampers him. Levi has his first ever cup of tea.
  * The more they fuck, the more confident Levi becomes. Nipping Erwin's chin, using every sensitive spot Erwin has to his advantage, saying things to egg him on.
  * Petra doesn't die (Overseer: "Sleep, sweet sister") which gives Levi a reason to go back to the convent at the end where the Overseer captures him. Levi's thought she was dead the entire time.
  * Singing hymns at the gazebo, Levi holds Petra's hand in the hope of giving her strength to endure what the Overseer is doing to her.
  * Erwin soaking in his deep, carved-from-granite tub. Levi is a having a hard time transforming (he also misses fresh air and the sun and feels guilty about Petra) so he climbs in and sprawls across Erwin's chest, resting until the water grows cold.




End file.
